Home improvement is a never-ending task. Owning a home means maintaining its most valuable components, as well as making improvements to damaged or outdated areas. However, home improvement it about more than room makeovers or fixing some cracked grout. One of the most important home improvement priorities you'll have in your lifetime in a house is caring for the roof.
Roofs aren't invulnerable to damage, after all. While they're designed and built to weather the harshest conditions, protecting you indoors from rain, hail, ice, heat, and sunlight outdoors, all this abuse and defensive power can decline over time.
How do you know when this is happening? Look for some of the chief signs of a roof in need of improvement, like dark spots, crooked gutters, missing or loose shingles, cracked shingles, standing water, and more. So, while your countertops may need refinishing and maybe you'd like to finally furnish your guest room up to your standards, it may be important to prioritize your roof. Here are the top reasons why roof repair should be at the top of your list.
Holes Can Be Catastrophic
A damaged roof can become porous, crack, or develop large holes in it, which doesn't seem like a total emergency until the next rain storm. Moisture can easily penetrate a damaged roof, and once it gets inside, it can do a myriad of damaging things. For one, it will eat away at the wooden frame of your roof, spreading the misery. Secondly, water will deteriorate the possessions in your attack. Third and most devastatingly, water that enters through a flawed roof can seep through your walls, ceiling, and other major building materials. Suddenly, you'll be hiring flood damage repair and mold remediation, on top of fixing your roof.
Roof Repair Is Urgent
A roof in need of repairs like new shingles or improved flashing doesn't seem like a big deal, until it is. They say that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and this is certainly true of roofs. While you can choose to pay or delay for roof repair needs, delaying means allowing problems like moldy soft spots or loose shingles to escalate and worsen. Suddenly, you may need a full re-shingle job. Worse, you may have to pay for installation of a brand-new roof. Roofs can be extremely expensive to replace, so much so that most real estate agents recommend against buying homes with damaged roofs for fear that you'll buy into a money pit. Pay for repairs right away before you're stuck with the bill for total roof tear-down and replacement job.
A Roof Is Shelter
Finally, a home just isn't a home without a good roof. A stable roof will effectively shelter you and your belongings from the elements, keep out pests, and protect other components of your home. When you think about it, repairing your roof means investing in the beauty, security, and stability of your entire home. So, why not do everything you can to protect your investment? You may take interest in re-painting your walls or upgrading a light fixture, but always remember that roof repair should top your to-do list until it's in pitch-perfect condition.
